Trigger Warning: mentioning of female genital mutilation.
“The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any one organisation but to the collective efforts of all who care about human rights.” – Gloria Steinem.
Celebrating women and their achievements, uplifting other women, and raising awareness about the discrimination women face globally, are all important actions which International Women’s Day allows us to do.
Despite the official recognition of this day (by the United Nations) not occurring until 1977, the celebration of International Women’s Day is something which can be seen throughout the 20th century.
The United Nations (UN) has acknowledged the first International Women’s Day to have originated in America – where a day was designated to honour the New York garment worker’s strike of 1908. Despite this, other movements regarding women’s rights have been documented during this period, such as the declaration of the negative impact female genital mutilation has on women and girls, and the 1917 women’s strike (08/03) in Russia gaining women the right to vote.
Themes
Each year International Women’s Day (IWD) focuses on a new theme to bring women closer to gender equality, promoting women’s rights in line with the goals listed under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), and uplifting women from around the world.
In 2023, the theme for IWD was the elimination of gender-based violence. It was estimated by the World Bank that approximately 1 in 3 women have been subject to intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.
International Women’s Day provides the opportunity for awareness and fundraising events to take place all over the world, drawing attention to different issues and allowing progress to be made in alleviating these issues every year. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is “invest in women: accelerate progress”, with focus being placed on the economic equality of women, drawing attention to the government’s lack of effective action within this.
Some ways the International Women’s Day website has suggested organisations can contribute to these aims are:
● “Forging women’s economic empowerment
● recruiting, retaining and developing female talent
● supporting women and girls in leadership, decision-making, business and STEM
● designing and building infrastructure meeting the needs of women and girls
● helping women and girls make informed decisions about their health
● involving women and girls in sustainable agriculture and food security
● providing women and girls with access to quality education and training
● elevating women and girl’s participation and achievement in sport
● promoting the creative and artistic talent of women and girls
● addressing further areas supporting the advancement of women and girls”
Why is economic inequality important for 2024?
The economic inequality of women is viewed as a globally significant issue, impacting billions of women globally. In 2022, the World Bank reported that almost 2.4 billion women of working age did not have the same economic opportunities given to men. This is evident through the 178 countries which still maintain laws and policies which prevent women from having equal economic participation to men.
In this report, it was observed that 95 countries do not guarantee equal pay for women, despite completing the same work as men. To achieve the SDG proposed by the UN, this is something that needs to change – with Gender Equality being listed as the fifth SDG.
In the UK, the government has made commitments to improve gender equality and economic inclusion of women. This has led to a 73.1% closure of the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity, while the global score is reported to be 59.8% by the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Despite this, gender stereotypes continue to be dominant in society, contributing to inequality in labour market participation, with women spending 81% more time on unpaid domestic and care work than men. According to the WEF, this progress is not occurring fast enough, currently being projected to take 169 years to achieve gender parity in economic participation and opportunity – a goal which is set for 2030 – highlighting the urgency needed to eliminate this inequality.
As young students, we must continue to push for gender equality in all areas of life, for everyone. Gender-based inequality is not an issue which will disappear without proactive action. International Women’s Day promotes gender-based inequalities one issue at a time, an approach which may be more impactful due to the complexities of the issues at hand – ensuring every woman is included in achieving gender-based equality, something which has been overlooked in the past.